With cauliflower blended into its sauce, this cauliflower mac and cheese is a lighter - but equally delicious - version of our favorite comfort food.

Doesn’t this cauliflower mac and cheese look amazing? I made it with a bright orange cauliflower from Farmhouse Delivery in Austin. If I could give one piece of advice to people looking to learn about cooking and eat more seasonally, it would be to sign up for a CSA.

What is a CSA?

CSA stands for community-supported agriculture. In a CSA “members” (that’s you!) pay a farmer or collective in advance for a certain number of deliveries of local produce or food products. Because members pay in advance, they give farmers the financial resources to start planting before they can begin selling produce through other outlets, such as farmers markets.

While some CSAs are all vegetables, I’ve seen others that include locally-sourced fermented products, eggs, fruits, bread, coffee, tea, or alcohol. Many CSAs deliver straight to your home, while others drop off shares at a designated pick-up spot. Lots of farms offer options for various share sizes or delivery frequency to meet the needs of your kitchen.

Why join a CSA?

There are lots of reasons to join a CSA – for one, your produce can turn into an amazing mac and cheese – but here are just a few of my other favorites:

1. You will support small farmers in your community… and your vegetables will be tastier because everything is better in season.

2. You will learn how to become a creative cook, rather than a recipe cook, which means you’ll spend less time and money at the grocery store.

3. You’ll become super impressed with yourself when you first learn how to whip something up out of “nothing.”

4. It’ll feel like Christmas morning when you get something unexpected and amazing like this super bright orange cauliflower.

Now…for this Cauliflower Mac and Cheese!

Inspired by a bright orange cauliflower in my CSA box (pictured below), I whipped up this cauliflower mac and cheese! I made both a vegan cashew cream version and a cheddar cheese version of the cauliflower sauce. Even Jack admitted that they turned out pretty darn similar (although don’t tell him I said that). Pictured above is the vegan version, and its recipe is listed below. I slightly un-veganized it by adding a little bit of Parmesan cheese on top, and if you want to go further in that direction, a layer of cheddar would be great too. Whichever way you go, this is a lighter, healthier mac thanks to the cauliflower that’s the star of the sauce. (And, of course, you can use regular white cauliflower if that’s what you have).

If you prefer to make your sauce with cheese as well as cauliflower, omit the cashew cream in the recipe below, and replace it with 3/4 cup shredded cheddar.

1 cup cashews, soaked for a few hours (strain soaking water before using)

¼ - ½ cup water

1 small garlic clove

¼ cup minced shallot

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Sea salt

Instructions

If you're making the vegan option, start by making your cashew cream. Place all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth. Scoop the cream out of the blender and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the 4 cups of cauliflower florets and cook until tender but not mushy, about 8 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to drain and scoop the cauliflower into a blender. When the cauliflower is out, bring your water back up to a boil and add the pasta.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. To your blender, add the Dijon mustard, shallot, garlic, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper, and puree along with the 4 cups cauliflower florets. Add about ¾ cups of cashew cream (or cheddar cheese) and the sherry vinegar, and blend again. Add starchy pasta water, as needed, to thin the sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings. For a richer sauce, add more cashew cream or cheese.

When your pasta is al dente, set aside a cup or so of pasta water, then fully drain your pasta and the water out of the large pot. Return the cooked pasta to the pot and stir in the sauce. Add reserved pasta water, as needed, to create a creamy sauce.

Pour your pasta into a large baking dish. Place the remainder of the cauliflower florets on top. Top with a sprinkling of panko, Parmesan cheese (if using) and a drizzle of olive oil. (Optional: make it extra cheesy by adding a layer of sharp cheddar underneath the panko and Parmesan).

Bake until the top is golden and crispy - about 12-20 minutes depending on the size of your dish.

Remove from oven and top with chives and red pepper flakes.

Notes

It's up to you how light/healthy you want to make this - pile in the cashew cream and/or cheese to make it more indulgent, or hold back and make it a bit lighter.

New to eating more of a plant based diet, not GF or vegan just trying to incorporate more veggies into my BF and I’s diet. This was to dieeee for! I did add about half a sweet potato, mostly for color but also added nutrients. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!

This looks amazing! I’m so jealous of your orange cauliflower! I’ve been searching for romanesco, purple, or light green cauliflower, but no luck so far (I did find some great watermelon radishes at the farmer’s market, though!). I love that the color of the veggie inspired you to make something cheesy.

Thanks for the shout out to support local farmers! We grow that variety of cauliflower at our farm. “Cheddar” is the orange variety that we grow and I love it! Turning it into healthy cheese sauce sounds pretty darn good to me! I’ll definitely share this recipe with our customers!

I totally agree about CSAs. I’ve been a member for 5 years now and it’s so great for all the reasons you mentioned. I’m still getting used to the new timeline though with my move from Wisconsin to Florida. Here in Miami the season runs from November to May, which still seems strange, but I’m loving the novelty of fresh local produce in winter.

This looks so delicious, I have been wanting to make a cauliflower mac and cheese for some time. I loved your sweet potato alfredo pasta recipe so I know this will be a winner as well. Can’t wait to make this!

No, not pushy at all! I’d get some super cheap csa produce at the community college. I’m not taking classes this semester and I miss it so much. And yes, everything tasted much better than supermarket produce.
This looks lovely. It’s drizzly here today – perfect for mac n’ cheese!

I have signed up for the CSA for a couple of years and realized that I love it and can leave it too 🙂 I love the amazing produce and its seasonality. But, I don’t like the idea of the predetermined quantities and not having a choice of taking 1 of a veg I don’t particularly like and more of one I do. I get that choice from my farmer’s markets! I also found that, atleast in NYC, the farmers’ market is way cheaper than the CSA share for the same variety of produce.
Nevertheless, I love the concept of supporting the farmer and managing demand and if there isn’t an accessible, vibrant farmers’ market in an area, CSA is an awesome idea to subscribe to.

Hi Asha! I totally agree – I go through phases where put mine on hold… sometimes it’s easier to pick out exactly what I want. But every time I go back I realize I end up spending less money overall (I realize this probably varies by area – also, mine lets me sub in/out things I don’t like).

Most of all, I love how it kicks me out of a rut of cooking the same things over and over. I’ve come to absolutely love some vegetables that I didn’t think I liked before. 🙂

I just re-signed up for a CSA after a couple of months off because I wanted to become a more creative/better cook. I totally agree about how it feel like Christmas morning when you get something new in your box. Right now I’m enjoying the challenge of trying to figure out what to make, but that enthusiasm ebbs and flows for me, too.

This recipe looks delicious! I’ve not seen a vegan mac and cheese recipe that has looked tempting enough for me to give it a try, until now 🙂 I will definitely be trying it out the next time I get a cauliflower! Over here in the UK we have a similar veg scheme, getting seasonal produce from local farmers. I swear by it and I agree that it makes you an more inventive cook rather than just following recipes. I wrote a post about why I love me veg scheme so much 🙂 http://wrappedinnewspaper.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/convenience-shopping/ Thanks for the mac and cheese inspiration!

This sounds heavenly, and I’ve actually recently been looking for a cashew cream recipe. Also, I used to work for a CSA. The family operation was so inspiring, and taught me how much work it takes to farm and actually make a living. I’m all for supporting the local farmers for all their hard work!

what not to like about this healthy mac n’ cheese!!! You are such an inspiration, I swear!!! — I am still too scare to commit to local farm delivery as of now, though I do the next best thing by buying from Farmers Market every week. Once I am a better cook, CSA or local farm delivery will be on my to-do list. 🙂

Such a beautiful cauliflower! And it totally loans itself to some spontaneous mac ‘n’ cheese action. I’ve tried a few versions of non-cheese mac, but have never actually seen cauliflower used. Brilliant. Love the lemon, shallot, dijon and smoked paprika additions too.

This was fabulous! Both my husband and 10 month old daughter loved it. Your blog has been a huge help to me over the last year as we have made the switch to a more plant based diet. Thanks for all the great inspiration and yummy recipes:)

I made this last week – with cheese rather than the cashew cream. It’s a lot lighter than the usual macaroni cheese sauce so not quite as comforting but nonetheless delicious. It pleased my veggie teen as she felt she could tuck in with relish. Thanks for the recipe

Awesome! I live in Georgetown and have been researching where I can get local produce, so thanks for recommending Farmhouse Delivery.

Also, a few months ago my mom made a soup with cauliflower, carrots, and cabbage. My son’s teeth weren’t in at the time so she pureed the veggies from the soup. When she gave it to me to test I could’ve sworn it was Velveeta cheese! We could not stop laughing about it. Whelp, that’s just what this recipe reminded me of.

I’ve made this with a recent recipe from Veg. Times. This one looks a lot better.
I’ll try it. When I have some lobster I may add some of that too for the ultimate. I had Mac and cheese w lobster in Sonoma at the Mission Inn. Nice to be pampered sometimes; a day at the spa, some wine tasting and this before a tub for two and a roaring fire.

I am no longer positive where you’re getting your info, however great topic.
I needs to spend a while learning more or figuring out more.
Thank you for wonderful info I was searching for this
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Because of this post I’m signing up for Farmhouse Delivery! I like that it was started by 2 women in Austin, it seems to spread the CSA love out to multiple farms, and they deliver (which I’m very grateful for as a new mama)– I’ll also be checking out this yummy recipe next soon, so happy I found your blog!

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I am an ok chef and a young guy who doesn’t subscribe to any particular diet. However, I recently began seeing a vegan and I made this for our first date. She was quite impressed and I enjoyed it as well. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

It’s not very often I make a recipe more than once. But my CSA delivered an orange cauliflower & this was the first thing that came to mind! This week I’m challenging myself to not grocery shop in order to up what I have. So instead of shallot (because I’m all out!) I used regular ol yellow onion but added an extra clove of garlic to the sauce. Before baking I also added diced homegrown red & orange bell pepper, frozen peas & chopped kale- cause why the kale not!
I loved this recipe just as you have it and adding more colorful veggies made it all the more fun. My parents were both very impressed so I consider it a major win!
Thank you for always providing such solid recipes!

Hi! I just found this recipe posted on Nylon and I can’t wait to make it. This might be a novice question, but should the whole florets that are added at the end be raw or cooked? I would imagine that they need to be cooked since 20 mins in the oven might leave them crunchy, but I wouldn’t want them to get too soft either! Thanks!

So, I just made this. It was so good!!! This may just be the best Mac n “cheese” ever. My four year old son even loved it. 🙂 I only had regular white cauliflower but I’d love to try it again with the yellow/orange variety. Thanks so much for sharing your awesome recipes!!

Hi Ozzie, cooking the cauliflower in the water helps the sauce blend better and become more creamy. I’ve tried it both ways, and roasting takes too much of the moisture out of the cauliflower. Hope that helps!

Hi. I’m so glad to run across this recipe. My 14-year-old decided she wanted to go Vegan this past year, so I’m always looking for new recipes. My question is whether you use raw cashews or dry roasted to make the cashew cream? I’m guessing raw but can either work? Thanks!